Beach Time Bonanza
by KittyBits
Summary: AU. Be nice and help the lost kids back to their parents. No, seriously, you never know what nice things Karma will bring you as a reward. Especially when Penelope Garcia is the one assisting her. R/M JJ/P G/L
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Hi guys. Bye guys.**

**Author's Note: A bitty two-shot occurring to me on my way from Marrakesh to my hotel when I went on a holiday in Morocco. I don't know what to say about it, but I think it's kinda sweet, so - you know - read on and be happy? Love youse.**

"This is an intervention."

"An intervention of what?"

"You've isolated yourself for far too long, Spence, enough is enough."

"I've been working on my thesis, you guys know that."

"And now you've finished it we thought it was time for you to come out."

"So we're taking you on a vacation."

"A vacation?"

"Yes. Em and I found a nice, reasonably priced place in California."

"So we're going to spend all day at the beach, you, JJ, Henry, and I."

"And there's no discussion. We already paid for the tickets and there aren't refundable."

"... Fine. But I want to pay for my own expenses, I'm not a charity case."

"Yeah, sure."

"Whatever."

-o-

"MOMO! Guess what!"

"WHAT MAMA?"

"It's time for our first ever bi-annual vacay! BEACH TIME BONANZA!"

"Our what, mama?"

"We're going on a holiday, sweet-cheeks! A whole week of the two of us lying on the beach and getting tanned and playing in the sea. Yay?"

"YAY!"

"Yay. And please don't scream honey, Daddy's trying to sleep upstairs."

"Is he coming too?"

"Of course, he is. Silly child. And guess what?"

"What?"

"Dee's coming too."

"YAY!"

"What did I say about screaming?"

-o-

"Does anybody else feel the need to visit the restrooms?" Emily pushed her giant sunglasses up onto her forehead and gave the two other grown-ups an inquiring look. Henry was busy digging a river around his sand castle.

"Yeah, I guess I wouldn't mind," Spencer admitted. He rose and turned his attention elsewhere, courteously, while Emily gave JJ a quick peck on the lips and followed him up. She wrapped her sarong around her hips and they walked towards the small building containing the bathrooms further back the beach.

"Regretting coming yet?" Emily asked lightly and gave Spencer a teasing smile.

"We only just came here," he objected. "But I wouldn't rule the possibility out – your girlfriend wouldn't let me bring any of my new books. Or any of the reports I printed out, exclusively to read during the flight and _sunbathing_."

He ignored Emily, when she chuckled at his obvious disgust with the phenomenon.

"It can't be that bad, sunbathing."

"Do I need to explain to you the statistics concerning skin cancer?" he asked, his voice flat and slightly cold.

"Calm down, Spencer. You're wearing factor 50. If you'll ever get the slightest bit of color I'll be surprised. And should you end up getting skin cancer from this, I'll happily pay for your treatment, that's a promise."

"You don't seem to get how serious a subject cancer is-"

"And you don't seem to know how to relax and chill. I'm going to pee, and when I come back outside I expect you to _not_ speak about fatal diseases, alright?" She disappeared through the door with the big L on and Spencer narrowed her eyes slightly after her.

He actually really liked her.

He smiled awkwardly to the small girl sitting between the toilet doors, who looked up tentatively when he passed her.

If he was to be completely honest he was enjoying himself a bit. It was somewhat nice to be outside of his apartment and JJ and Emily was good company. Plus Henry was an intelligent kid and made Spencer feel less awkward than practically every other kid he had ever had the misfortune to get acquainted with.

He exited after taking care of business and outside let his gaze wander over the forest of beach umbrellas in colorful patterns and to the sky where the sun was beating down relentlessly. The girl was still sitting in the same spot as when Spencer had entered the bathroom, her gaze steadily wandering back and forth over the swarm of umbrellas.

"All done," Emily said and exited the other bathroom with a sunny smile."No more diseases?"

"You were pretty quick," he commented and they started walking back.

"Well, I was the only one in there, so it wasn't as if I had to queue as we women usually do. It's not that we are that slow at the actual act, but the slight difference in speed accumulates queues a lot faster then you males. Besides, I've always been a fast-"

"You were the only one in there?" He halted abruptly. Emily stopped too and turned slightly to look at Spencer with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, why?"

"I was the only one in the Gents' too."

"So? That's not unusual is it?" She put her hands on her hips.

"No, but that young girl sitting outside."

"Oh. She wasn't waiting for someone in the restroom. Do you think she's lost?" Her eyes widened with realization and worry. Spencer pulled his bottom lip between his teeth.

"I'm not sure. Do you think we should go back and ask?"

Emily walked past him towards the restrooms without replying and Spencer hurried after her.

"Hey sweetie," she said and sunk to her knees in front of the girl who looked at her warily. "Are you alright?"

"My mama says I'm not to talk to strangers," the girl informed Emily and gazed between her and Spencer.

"That's very wise of her," Emily said and looked thoughtful.

"I might help if we introduced ourselves then?" Spencer suggested and looked at the girl. "My name is Dr. Spencer Reid, I'm twenty-nine years old and I live in Washington DC where I work as a professor at the George Washington University. This is Emily Prentiss, she's a bit older than me but threatens to hurt me if I ever tell anyone how much. She lives fifteen minutes away from me in DC and she's actually a FBI agent."

"Really?" the girl asked with wide eyes and Emily nodded. "I'm Madelaine Lynch, but everyone calls me Momo. I'm seven years old. I live in Chicago with my mama and daddy."

"Are you lost Momo?" Spencer asked and the girl nodded miserably. "Do you need help to find them?"

"Yes please," she said and looked up at him with a pleading look.

"Alright," Emily said determined and smiled. "Did your parents tell you to go to the bathroom if you got lost?"

"Mama did," Momo said and nodded.

"It's probably one of the other ones," Spencer said and crouched next to Emily. "Do you know what direction your parents are?"

"I'm not sure," Momo said and looked down.

"We split up?" Emily asked and looked questioningly at Spencer.

"That's probably wisest. You go North and I'll go South?"

"If you take Momo I'll swing by JJ and Henry and tell them where we've gone. Do you have your cell phone?" She rosed and brushed the sand off her knees.

Spencer rose too and patted the pocket in his kaki shorts. "I hate that conception but I always carry it on my person."

"You don't by any chance remember your mama's or daddy's cell phone number, do you Momo?" Emily asked and nodded resigned when Momo regretfully shook her head. "Okay then, will you be alright walking with Spencer?"

Momo nodded.

"We'll be fine," Spencer assured his friend, sounding a lot less sure than he actually felt. He felt immensely proud that the girl hadn't burst out crying or anything yet, and was secretly terrified of the idea of being alone with her.

"I'll see you later, call if you find anything."

"Will do," Spencer said and watched Emily hurry back towards JJ and Henry. "Okay then, Momo, shall we start?" The girl nodded and climbed stiffly to her feet. "How long have you been sitting there?" he asked with a frown.

"I don't know," she replied and took a few stumbling steps. "A long time I think."

"Do you think," Spencer said and bit his lip in thought. "If you were seated on my shoulders I think you'll be able to see further, don't you?" The bright smile he received in reply made him feel warm inside in a way only Henry and sometimes JJ had managed in the past. "Alright then, let's try that shall we?"

It wasn't easy, positioning a seven year old on his shoulders and then standing back up, but Spencer managed after a few seconds of swaying to regain his balance and taking two tentative steps forward.

"You're really tall," Momo said from above him.

"So I've been told," he said back without really knowing why, but her chuckle made him smile. "And here we go."

Ha walked in silence for a while, feeling pretty sure that Momo was busy trying to catch sight of her parents from her higher vantage point.

"Did your parents bring an umbrella?" he asked when he realized he should probably make sure she hadn't gotten a heatstroke and fainted.

"Yes. It's red with yellow flowers on it," Momo replied and Spencer fell into silence, relaxed now he was sure he didn't walked around with an unconscious girl on his shoulders. "If you're a doctor shouldn't you be working in a hospital and not a University?" Momo then asked.

"No, because I'm not a medical doctor. You know, the kind you visit when you're ill?" He wasn't sure how to put it to a child, when he so often before had to explain to adults how he wasn't able to give them second opinions and prescriptions.

"There's other kinds of doctors?" Momo asked with a note of surprise and curiosity in her voice.

"There is. When you study something for a very long time and write papers and articles on the subject you can become a doctor too." To put it very simply.

"So you're really smart?"

"I'm actually really, _really_ smart."

"Cool," Momo sighed and wrapped a pair of warm, small hands around Spencer's forehead, shadowing his eyes from the sun.

"Actually I once went to school here in California," Spencer said.

"You did? That's so cool! Did you go to the beach every day, I think I would. Unless if school was really fun."

"I hardly ever went to the beach, actually. I think I only went a time or two during the three years I went to Cal Tech when I think about it. Both times when my friend JJ came to visit."

"I have a friend call MJ back home. We used to play together all the time, but then he started pulling my pig tails so now I don't like him anymore." Spencer could feel how she relaxed more and more for every passing minute while he felt his shoulders tense up at about the same rate. He was very thankful that the restrooms came closer and closer.

"He probably does that because he likes you, boys does that when they're your age."

"That's stupid," Momo declared and Spencer had to agree with her.

"He just wants your attention."

"Then he should ask for it. It hurts when he pulls on my hair."

"I know the feeling," Spencer agreed and Momo pulled playfully on a lock of his hair.

"Does this hurt?" she asked and bowed forward to grin into his face. His right hand flew up from her leg to stabilize her.

"You didn't pull hard enough for it to hurt, but I think you already knew that." Her grin broadened.

"I did." She leaned back and Spencer moved his hand back to her leg.

"We're almost by the restrooms now, can you see anyone you know?" he asked and narrowed his eyes in the direction of the restrooms. These were apparently more used, as a queue had formed from the ladies'.

"I'm not sure," Momo said slowly.

"Does anyone look like someone you know then?" Spencer dreaded the thought of walking further or even just back to the others. His shoulder was close to cramping.

"I think that might – MAMA!" A big, blonde woman turned around at the call and then started sprinting towards the startled Spencer, who could only watch her, paralyzed, as she crossed the distance with a speed he could only dream of achieving.

And with an energy he could hardly remember having possessed himself at _any_ time.

Momo kicked her legs and Spencer awkwardly slid the girl to the ground in front of him.

"MOMO!" the blonde woman cried and swooped the little girl up in what looked like a bone-crushing hug. "Where on Earth have you been?"

"I'm so sorry, Mama," Momo said and folded her arms tightly around her mother's neck. "I was playing and forgot to watch out for you and then I realized I could find you so I went to the bathroom as you said and you weren't there and I waited but you didn't come and then Doctor Spencer and Emily came and they said they'd help me."

Spencer remembered Emily and shot her a quick text to inform her that he had found Momo's family.

"I'm so sorry honey-plum," Momo's mother said quietly and put the girl back on the ground somewhat reluctantly. "And if you ever wander off again, I'm gonna buy you a leash."

"Sorry Mama," Momo said and looked at the ground with an air of embarrassment.

"And now you're going to borrow my phone and call you father and tell him to call off the coast guard." She handed the girl a cell phone, so pink and glittery Spencer had a hard time believing it was the mother's and not the daughter's.

"I will," Momo said and took a few steps away before pressing some buttons on the cell and putting it to her ear.

That was all Spencer saw before he felt the air leave his lungs with a surprised huff, as soft looking arms with surprising strength enveloped him and pressed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the women rambled, seemingly unable to stop.

"It was nothing, I'm sure anybody would have done the same," Spencer said, his cheeks heating because of the unfamiliarity of the situation.

"But you did, and knowing that you were a doctor – gosh, now I just feel silly with the way I was going worried sick." She let him go and beamed at him.

"I'm not really that kind of doctor," Spencer muttered.

"You have a doctorate?" she asked, looking pleasantly surprised. "You can hardly be more than twenty-five!"

"Actually I'm twenty-nine and I don't have _a_ doctorate, I..." he took a deep breath, but something compelled him to tell the woman in front of him. To assure her that he wasn't just the run-of-the-mill pervert delighting in picking up small girls and helping them find their parents. "I kinda have three."

"_Three_?" Her eyes looked ready to fall out her sockets. "What, are you some kind of genius?"

"I really dislike that term," Spencer muttered and looked down at his feet. Momo's mother was silent. When he looked up at her he saw something in her eyes he couldn't quite discern, but it looked eerily disturbing.

She seemed to pull herself from some kind of daze. "Oh, sweet lord of Techies, I'm so rude – I completely forgot about my manners in my relief to see by careless daughter again! I'm Penelope Garcia Lynch, thank you so, so much for finding and fetching her – my husband went to alert the coast guard, I kid you not. Oh, and please let your girlfriend – Emily was it? - know how grateful I am too!"

"Oh, no! She isn't my girlfriend," Spencer corrected frantically, again without really knowing just _why_ he had the incessant need for Penelope to know all the details. "She's dating JJ, my best friend from High School. And I texted her that I found you, so she's probably already back with JJ and her son."

"Emily has a son?" Penelope asked with interest.

"No, JJ does. She had him with her last boyfriend, but then she met Emily and so she broke it with him and now she's happily together with Em." He frowned. "I have no idea why I'm telling you this."

"Don't sweat it, Genius Boy. So you're here with you lesbian friends. That's nice." She smiled, big and flashy and just a tad intimidating. "So, are you gay too? Or bi like your friend JJ?" The question sounded casual, but Spencer had a feeling it was far from.

"Actually JJ and I started being friends after meeting in our High School's LGTB-club," Spencer said and watched with fascination the interest being turned on in Penelope's eyes.

"So you a twenty-nine-year-old homosexual genius, with three doctorates and probably a stable job?"

"I currently work as a lecturer at the George Washington's University, so yes, I guess so." Penelope just kept smiling.

"You know what?" she asked, with a strange determination in her eyes, that quickly told Spencer not to discuss with what would follow. "I'm going to invite you out for dinner as a thank you for finding my daughter. Both you, Emily, JJ, and JJ's son."

"Oh?" Spencer realized was the only thing he could produce.

"Yes. What hotel are you staying at?"

"Hotel Sea View, it's just by-"

"I know where it is, we live there too. Small world, isn't it?" He nodded. "So, we'll meet you guys in the foyer at six thirty, before the kids get too tired and hungry, and then I'll have reserved a table somewhere decent and not too far away. Deal?"

"Yeah," Spencer's mouth said, completely without the blessing of his mind who was still trying to figure out just why Penelope looked like she had won the lottery.

"I'll be seeing you then, you should probably return to your own party and tell them to clear their calenders for tonight, no one says 'No' to Penelope Garcia."

Spencer nodded and gave Momo a small wave before retreating back towards the direction he came from, feeling terribly like he had missed something important from their brief encounter. He just couldn't pinpoint what.

He returned to Emily, JJ, and Henry still feeling slightly dazed and a bit confused.

"Penelope asked us out for dinner," he informed the women and sunk down on his towel.

"Penelope?" JJ asked and looked up from where she was cutting an apple into smaller pieces for Henry.

"Momo's mother. We're meeting them in the foyer at six thirty. Apparently they're staying at the same hotel."

"That sounds nice," Emily commented and lifted an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think so," he said, closed his eyes and hoped that his factor fifty sunscreen was going to keep him safe as he sunk into sleep.

-o-

"DADDY!" Momo screeched and launched herself into her father's arms.

"That was some scare you gave us there," he admonished and took a deep breath, inhaling her scent, finally feeling calmed down.

"How did you find her?" his wife's best friend asked and sauntered over to wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders. "In the phone she kept talking about Doctor S and Em, from the FBI."

"I've found the perfect guy for you," Penelope beamed up at him and Kevin smiled and closed his eyes, concentrating on the wonder of holding Madelaine again.

"You found _another one_?" Derek looked at Penelope with his eyebrows disbelievingly halfway up his forehead. "What 'bout your yoga friend's friend? And what's with you setting me up with every gay guy you stumble across?"

"Hush, heathen! And that guy's old news, Spencer is _perfect_ for you, I'm not kidding. He's cute, refreshingly shy, smart, out and proud since he was in High School and apparently almost Albert Einstein-levels of smart." Penelope smiled excited. "We're meeting him and his lesbian friends and their son for dinner tonight. You're going to _love _him!"

"He does kinda sound like my type," Derek admitted.

"Kinda? _Kinda_? That's _exactly_ what you told me you liked." Penelope narrowed her eyes at him.

"Alright, he sounds just like the kind of guy I like, but what about me? What if I'm not his type," he said without the Morgan cockiness he always seemed to posses.

"Derek, sweetie," Penelope said and wrapped her arm around his waist as she watched her daughter and husband locked in a tight embrace. "You're everybody's type."

He gave a small chuckle.

"If you don't want him, Uncle Dee, I'll take him," Momo said from Kevin's embrace. Derek frowned.

"We'll see about that."

Penelope felt immensely proud that her daughter seemed to have inherited her gift for manipulating the men in her life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Alright, chappie, what seems to be the problem? You won't speak? Well then, I'll just repost you and hope for your sake it works! Thank you so much those of you who decided to let me know there were problems reading this - it really made the review count skyrocket x) My eternal love to all of youse - including you who just read it and pout disappointedly when there was nothing! **

"Alright Spencer," Emily said as she walked down the stairs in front of him. "Now that we got you out that horribly small apartment of yours and across the states, I think it's time you took the step further and went out."

"What do you mean 'out'?" he asked and looked down on Henry walking, stubbornly, by his side.

"You know _out._ Go out and meet some new people, and, you know, perhaps _someone_ too." She winked at him over her shoulder and Spencer's lips thinned.

"I don't want to meet new people, I've already met Penelope, and she's more than I can manage to _meet_ as it is. And I don't need _someone _either. I'm perfectly fine being single. Actually, you're showing typical behavior for someone in a committed relationship, you can't believe that someone can be perfectly happy on their own, and therefore try to fix your single friends up with every available single you come across."

"Curb your enthusiasm," Emily said and Spencer could just _hear_ the smile in her voice. "I just thought you might benefit from meeting someone." She took the few last steps down the stairs and stepped into the foyer, her gaze wandering quickly over the room, looking for any hint of small blonde girls. "Someone like _him_ preferably."

It sounded pretty breathless.

Spencer followed the direction of her gaze and finally noticed the man sitting in one of the burgundy couches reading a magazine about horses with a frown marring his forehead.

"Okay," he croaked, his mouth completely dry. "Although this exact specimen looks kind of straight."

"Spencer," Emily said, her voice low and intense. "I might be exclusively into," she glanced down at Henry, who was happily sucking on his thumb, "vajayjay, but even I can see that that guy over there is clearly God's gift to everything with a living libido on earth. I say he's bi."

"Who's bi and living with a libido on Earth?" JJ asked as she came into the foyer behind them. Emily nodded in the direction they were looking and JJ's jaw dropped. "Sweet Lord, that is one fine piece of meat sitting over there," she breathed.

"Should I be jealous?" Emily asked dryly, her gaze still on him too.

"Very much," JJ declared. "If he asks me to, I'll dump your sorry ass in a second."

"Really? Well, right back at you," Emily declared and stomped off in the direction of the foyer's other group of couches. JJ pulled herself from her stupor and hurried after her girlfriend.

"I was joking," she assured Emily and Spencer sighed, tore his eyes of the divinely good-looking man, smiled down at Henry, and followed the women.

"Sure you were," Emily said with disbelief and grabbed a bridal magazine from the coffee table.

JJ watched her girlfriend through narrowed ayes and pulled her son into her lap, apparently perfectly happy with ignoring Emily right back.

Spencer wanted to roll his eyes, but refrained, too scared that either of the women would catch him doing it and take their anger out on him. He quickly assessed the poor choice of magazines in front of him and decided the lesser evil was the one about cartoon superheroes, even if it did look like something intended for kids.

"Are you ready to go out and eat, honey?" JJ asked Henry and tried to brush his too long bangs out of his eyes.

"Yes Mommy," he said and nodded, his toy penguin gripped tightly in his hand.

"Why are you wearing you Teddy shirt?" JJ asked and frowned at his clothing. "Emily, didn't I ask you to change his shirt? This one is dirty."

"You didn't," Emily said behind the face of a beaming bride.

"Are you sure?" JJ asked, wetted a finger and rubbed a spot on Henry's chest.

"I'm sure I would remember if you had asked me that." Emily looked up from the magazine. "That's not going to help," she commented.

"I can see that," JJ snapped back. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm going to head up and find a new shirt."

"Don't" Emily objected and put the magazine down. Spencer was very determinedly reading an article about the new issue of Batman. "No one'll notice."

"I will," JJ insisted and shifted the boy to Emily's vacant lap.

"Baby, please," Emily said.

"Not now," JJ said and left them, walking quickly across the foyer, trying to get her anger to calm down.

She was halfway up the stairs when a familiar voice called, "Madelaine Angelica Lynch, do _not_ run down the stairs. You will fall down and break your legs!"

JJ smiled as she rounded a corner and faced a sulking girl in a purple dress and what was probably her mother.

"Good evening, Penny," JJ greeted and Penny smiled.

"Jen-Jen, Hi!" She waved down and gestured at the girl in front of her. "Don't mind this little infidel, her mother hasn't raised her properly and she hardly has any manners."

"But you're my mother, Mama," the girl objected and the women shared understanding smiles.

"Jen, this is my daughter, Madelaine-"

"Or Momo, right?" JJ smiled at the girl right in front of her. "Spence told me a lot about you."

"You know Doctor Spencer?" Momo asked and lit up in a bright smile.

"Yeah, do you know Spencer?" Penny asked confusedly.

"We go all way back to High School," JJ clarified. "He only ever calls me JJ though."

"Oh?" Penny said, then, "oh!" after which her face split into a broad grin. "Well. Momo, this is Jennifer, Emily's girlfriend."

"Emily works for the FBI, that's so cool," Momo informed enthusiastically.

"So do I actually," JJ said and Momo's eyes grew in astonishment.

"Cool," she breathed.

"What's cool," a male voice asked a a man came down the stairs and halted behind Penny.

"This is Jenny, whom I met during yoga this morning and who is apparently the illusive girlfriend of Emily, The FBI-Agent. And she's an agent too," the blonde said and JJ smiled up. "Jayje, this is my beloved hubby, Kevin Lynch."

"A pleasure to meet you," Kevin said, leaned forward, and shook her hand.

"Likewise," she said with a smile. "I was just about to head up after a clean shirt for my son-"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head with details like a bit of dirty clothing, when I bought Momo's dress it was a lovely light blue." JJ looked at the purple dress. Then she looked up at the couple and saw Kevin's sheepish facial expression.

"Accidentally washed it with something new and red?" she asked, with a teasing smile.

"Let me just say that that was the last time Kevin did the laundry at our house." JJ fought her smile.

"Well, if I'm not going to go and get a clean shirt, then we should probably head down. I left a grumpy girlfriend and a skittish best friend back in the foyer."

"Well, there's hardly any time for standing around in stairways and getting acquainted then, is there?" JJ shook her head no and resumed down the stairs, engaging the young Momo with questions about how she liked California so far and answering questions about Doctor Spencer and Em.

"Dee," Momo suddenly exclaimed and flew into the arms of the gorgeous man from the foyer coming up the stairs.

"Hello there Baby Girl," he said with a deep laugh.

"This is my best friend Derek, Momo's godfather," Penny whispered in JJ's ear and she burst out laughing. "Derek, this is Jen from my yoga class this morning," she continued.

"Hi, I'm Derek," he said and shook her hand after he put Momo back on the floor.

"JJ," she replied and smiled.

"Turns out that JJ is the girlfriend Momo never met," Penny said and Derek frowned.

"What girlfriend?" he asked.

"Emily's," JJ said and smiled as Derek's confusion melted away.

"Oh," he said and a smile grew on his face. "I bet you ladies are feeling especially clever right now, am I right?" he asked and shook his head at the woman's broad smiles. "I'm just going to join Kevin in the back, I'm afraid I'm not mentally equipped to keep up with you." JJ and Penny followed Momo past him and Derek met Kevin's half amused, half confused smile with one of his own and a "what you won't do for love" and they shuffled after the women.

"Spencer," Momo called and ran across the foyer to jump into Spencer's lap and fling her arms across his neck. "Hi Em, who is that?"

"Hi Momo," Emily said back and fought the smile at Spencer's frozen facial expression. "This is Henry, my girlfriend's son."

"Hi Henry," Momo said and left Spencer's lap. Henry hid his face in Emily's chest.

"He's a bit shy," Emily explained. She shifted Henry and rose. "Emily Prentiss," she said and held her hand out to the man coming towards them.

"Kevin Lynch," he said and shook it. "Thank you so much for what you did for Momo today, I was going sick with worry."

"It's nothing," Emily assured him with a smile and met JJ's gaze over Kevin's shoulder. She softened her smile.

"And you must be Spencer," Kevin said and faced Spencer, who only just managed to stand before he was grasped in a hug which not only managed to match Penelope's from earlier, but actually seemed to surpass it. "Thank you so much," Kevin said softly and Spencer patted the man awkwardly on the back.

"I was happy to assist," Spencer squeaked and felt his cheeks heat.

"Thank you." Kevin didn't let go and Spencer felt flushed and embarrassed.

"Hey, is that your friend?" Emily asked behind him.

"Yes," Penelope replied, also somewhere out of his line of sight as Kevin just kept holding on and on and on.

"If you ever even _talk_ to my girlfriend I will hurt you, and I'm an agent with FBI – I can do it and get away with it," Emily said with a force that surprised Spencer.

And apparently Kevin too as he let go of the young man, who had to take a deep breath to fill his lungs.

"About that-" a pleasantly deep voice said and Spencer turned around and found Emily, still with Henry on her hip, standing toe to toe with the guy who had been the cause of Emily and JJ's fight earlier.

"Calm down, Baby," JJ said and put her hand reassuringly on Emily's arm.

"Derek," Penelope said and broke into a big grin and the man was stopped from continuing his protest. "This is Spencer, the heroic man who brought Momo back from certain death," she introduced and Spencer felt himself incapable of moving as the gorgeous man walked up to him and grabbed his hand in a firm grip and gave him a smile that took Spencer's breath away for the second time in as many minutes. "Spencer, this is my very best friend and Momo's godfather, Derek Morgan."

"I've heard a lot about you," Derek said, his charming smile making Spencer's tongue stick to the roof of his mouth.

"I haven't heard anything about you," he managed in a voice too thin to sound natural. He cleared his voice. "Momo never mentioned a godfather, only her parents." He clarified and felt relieved at the strength his voice held. His cheeks still felt stubbornly warm.

Just like Derek's hand, which he was still holding.

He let it go.

It felt like six pairs of eyes were all focused on him, but when Spencer looked at the couples and the kids they all looked everywhere but at the two men.

"Let's get going then," Penelope happily declared and started out the foyer with JJ under one arm and Momo holding her free hand. Kevin and Emily, with Henry still in her arms, shuffled after them leaving Spencer to feel awkward and embarrassed, a state that had turned out to be his default state of mind during the evening.

"Penelope never waited for anybody," Derek, the Afro-American reincarnation of some long forgotten Greek god, said and the smile was just as utterly gorgeous before it faded and he started slowly walking outside waiting for Spencer to catch up.

He took a deep breath.

And followed.

-o-

"Lynch, party of eight," Garcia told the mâitre d' who smiled and showed them two a nice table by one of the windows.

Spencer wasn't surprised when he ended up seated across from Derek, and he wasn't entirely sure why.

He suspected Penelope and JJ had taken much amusement from his awkwardness during the brief walk. Every time he tried to reply to one of Derek's questions he would stutter and feel his cheeks heat in that alarming way that often meant he was blushing profusely.

Derek seemed like a really nice person though, but the tight shirt he was wearing was making it all too difficult for Spencer to keep a straight line of thought, especially when he was flashed that big grin.

And Derek had flirted all the way. With Spencer, which had been a nice surprise and made him hope for a brief moment that the interest might be returned, but then Derek started flirting with Penelope and JJ too, even shot some remarks at Emily, who had giving up being mad at him about JJ's comment.

It was quite a disappointment to Spencer, but his first theory had been that Derek was straight, so he guessed he shouldn't be too surprised. He supposed he could hope that at least Emily was right in her theory about his sexuality.

As everyone was seated a minute of uncomfortable silence falls over them until JJ cleared her voice.

"So, have you vacated here before?" she asked and picked up the menu in front of her with a smile at Kevin.

"Penny decided that since Derek is moving away we needed a way to stay properly in contact with him and she thought the best way would be to go on a vacation with him once or twice-"

"Twice," Penelope interrupted.

"- a year. And this is our first one," Kevin ended with a smile.

"You're moving?" JJ asked. "Where to?"

"Shouldn't you be helping Henry order?" Emily asked with a sly smile as she looked up from perusing the list of pasta dishes.

"He'll have the a Hawaii as always, right baby?" Henry nodded. "Derek?"

"I've received a huge opportunity to work with what I've always dreamed about so I'm moving to DC," he replied and glanced briefly at Spencer to gauge his reaction before smiling to Emily. "I'm going to start working with the FBI come August."

"Really?" JJ and Emily said as one.

"In what department" Emily wanted to know.

"The Behavioral Analysis Unit, do you know it?" Derek smirk didn't leave an ounce of doubt that he knew Emily did.

"Of course I do," she said and smirked back. "After all my girlfriend works there."

Derek's smirk fell as quickly as his mouth fell open in a gape. He stared at JJ. "You're in the BAU?"

"Media Liaison," she explained with a smiled. "You are all we've been talking about during the coffee breaks lately. You're going to enjoy the lack of life."

Derek clearly didn't know what to do with those news but was saved when the waiter came to take their orders.

-o-

"So, Penelope," Emily said after finish chewing a bite of her seafood pasta. "Normally I'd ask you to tell me how you and Kevin met, but he already told me how your work for the same company, and I'll have to admit – you're relationship with Derek puzzles me." Spencer was very quiet as he waited for what he hoped was something he had wondered about all evening. "What's your story?"

Penelope beamed at her. "This is my all time favorite story," she admitted and leaned forward so she could wink at Derek.

"Don't I know it," the man said and winked back. Spencer kind of wanted Derek to wink to him instead. A lot actually.

"It all started when my mother got remarried and we moved in with her new husband in this big flat in Chicago, me, her, Eduardo – that's my stepfather – and his four sons. The youngest of those sons were eight years older than me, me being a little brat of four years old, so my mother made me a play date with this girl, Sarah, from the first floor."

"Sarah is my little sister," Derek shot in and caught Spencer looking at him instead of the exuberant woman.

"And she was boring as he- she was boring, I thought, but she had this brother, who was three years older than me and absolutely amazing!" She got a dreamy look on her face. "He had the most fantastic afro and he played baseball and he was smart and cool and let me follow him around like a puppy."

"It was like getting a younger sister who didn't yell at me or steal my G.I. Joe's to pair them up with her Barbie's dolls. I really enjoyed that. Also the open adoration." It felt like Derek explained it directly to Spencer, and not the entire table as he kept a steady eye contact with him.

"I had the biggest crush on him when we grew older and started school. All through middle school I dreamed of him and when I started High School I started fantasizing about him bringing me as his date for senior prom. And then one day, about a month before that very prom he asked me into his room and I was so _certain_ he was going to ask me to go with him as his date and maybe even confess his undying love." Spencer didn't quite like where Penelope was going with her story and took a big sip of water. "And that's when my favorite guy told me he was gay."

Spencer gasped.

Except, he still had water in his mouth and pulled the liquid down his windpipe, resulting in a furious cough, spraying his plate with small pearls of water. He was acutely aware, that everybody at the table was staring at him and his probably tomato red face, hears cheeks streaked with strained tears. Emily gave him a helpful thud on the back, which didn't help matters much.

"Are you alright?" Kevin asked with a worried frown.

Spencer couldn't look away from Derek who looked back with a bemused expression. Spencer was quite certain that the other realized that Spencer hadn't known about him being gay until before.

"Fine," he croaked, embarrassment and his sore throat making him reach out for his glass and empty it in two big gulps. "I'm fine," he repeated and looked down on his half-empty plate, appetite completely gone.

A long awkward seconds of awkwardness passed then JJ told Henry not to eat with his fingers and Momo asked Penelope if she could then to which Penelope answered no and Emily and Kevin started talking about some football team Spencer didn't feel even the least bit of interested in.

He was too busy trying to deflame his face anyway.

Too busy breathing deeply he dismissed the nudge to his leg as an accident, except the something nudging _kept_ nudging, insistently, until he looked up and found Derek smiling tentatively to him.

"You okay?" he asked softly, leaning a bit over the table so nobody but Spencer could hear what he said.

"Embarrassed," Spencer admitted. "And like all my blood is located in cheeks."

"It looks cute." The comment did nothing to help the blood flow downwards, but it made Spencer's heart speed up in his breath turn a bit shallower.

If Derek was gay...

Did he perhaps...?

Or was that too much to hope for?

He smiled weakly to the handsome man in front of him and wondered if the evening had turned better by the knowledge that The Perfect Man was of the same sexual orientation as him, or if it made it worse.

It wasn't exactly a long shot, but Spencer was a bit nervous about interpreting their interactions during the evening as actual interest.

He wished he had more water and instead settled with pouring himself a new glass of white wine which he drained half of before topping it off again.

He would get through this.

The charming smile was doing weird things to his anatomy.

-o-

Derek was in Seventh Heaven to begin with. It had been a bit hard to keep the Panty Dropper Smile 2.0 – as Penny insisted on calling it, no matter how many times he told her he wasn't interested in _any_ dropping panties – in place when Spencer had been so brief and polite with him, but he was smart and cute and exactly Derek's type.

Just like Penny had said he would be.

Then he was in doubt.

Penny had assured him Spencer was gay, and had been aware of the fact for years and years, so Derek had started out with his usual flirting tricks. Those usually did the trick.

No reaction.

Spencer didn't seem to respond to _any_ of his attempts of flirting. Not the smiles, the way he made their hands brush when they walked the short distance to the restaurant. The questions he was crazy about, but it wasn't as much _flirting_ as it was friendly conversation. Getting to know each other.

Not that Derek didn't want to get to know Spencer, that wasn't the problem, he _really_ wanted to get to know him.

The problem was that he really wanted to get to _know_ him too. In the biblical sense of the word.

It wasn't until Spencer nearly drowned after being told Derek was gay that things made sense to him.

He had been told before that he often came of as straight on first hand, and Spencer had told him he hadn't heard about him before, so obviously that JJ-woman hadn't told him about Penny's gay friend.

Now was probably time to pull out the big guns, judging by the blush – the scarily adorable blush – adorning Spencer's face.

Physical contact under the table.

Check.

Friendly inquiry as to well-being.

Check.

Smile.

Check.

It looked like he was getting the reaction he was wishing for now, as Spencer was still blushing profusely and looking stubbornly down on the table while not eating anything from it. He pushed the food around his plate a bit as his cheeks paled before looked up cautiously. Derek was quick to get eye contact and held it, trying to convey all the things he wanted to do with Spencer in a securely locked room, just the two of them, with his eyes.

Judging by the returning blush it worked to get at least the bigger picture across, if not every little detail.

He succeeded in getting a light conversation running between them, Kevin and Emily engaged by their spouses who had plotted towards this result, and Spencer slowly grew accustomed to looking Derek in the eye with blushing.

Much anyway.

If Derek were to be completely honest, he might have fallen a bit in love with the other man just because of the reaction he inspired in him. It boosted his ego in ways he had never imagined, and he had always been aware that he was a very attractive man.

"Spencer," Emily said all of a sudden, interrupting Spencer's ramble on a book he had just read with a nudge of her elbow. "Would you mind telling Kevin the reason we're here."

He gave her a long blank look before turning to Kevin with a tight smile. Derek thought he looked uncomfortable.

"We're celebrating the completion of my Philosophy degree," he said quickly and turned back to Derek to continue his lecture.

"Wait a minute," Kevin said with a frown. "I though you were a doctor, like you had a doctorate-doctor."

"I do."

"And now you have a degree too?" Kevin looked amazed.

"Well," Spencer said slowly, and Derek detected something important went unsaid when the young man glanced at him, then looked down on his plate abashedly.

"What do you have a doctorate in?" Kevin asked enthusiastically.

"Mathematics," Spencer was quick to say. After a while of silence Emily nudged him in the side again. "And Chemistry."

"Spence," Jennifer said in a scolding tone.

"And Engineering." He glared at her from her seat.

Kevin looked starstruck. Derek felt it.

He really loved him some brains in his partners. This was just off-the-scales-hot.

"He also has degrees in Psychology and Sociology. He sometimes work as a consultant on our cases. If they're in the state and stuff. Aaron Hotchner secretly adores him," JJ added, the last part directed to Derek who could only nod dumbly.

Spencer just took everything to the nth degree, didn't he.

Derek wanted him so bad.

"I wanna go home now," Momo complained from the other end of the table and everybody's attention bar Derek's were forced to the little girl. He was still too busy staring at Spencer.

"How _old_ are you?" he asked before he could stop himself, and thanked his dark complexion for camouflaging the heat he felt rush to his face.

Spencer's attention flew back to him, and he stared at him wide-eyed. "Twenty-nine," he replied with a sheepish look in his face.

"You're not even thirty? And you have three doctorates _and_ three degrees. That's incredible," he breathed and felt pleasure in the blush rising delicately in Spencer's cheeks. It wasn't as violent a blush as some of the earlier, but the red tinge to the young man's face drew attention to his cheekbones and made him seem almost ethereally good-looking.

"He got his first doctorate at age seventeen," Jennifer said and Derek stared disbelievingly at her.

"That's insane," he stated and looked back to Spencer. "You were really seventeen?" Spencer nodded. "Amazing."

"I wanna leave _now_," Momo demanded in a loud voice and crossed her arms stubbornly over her slender chest.

"Sure, Honey-buns," Penny said and rolled her eyes at the others while she waved over their waiter. Derek saw the triumphant look Momo shot him and narrowed his eyes at her back.

So she was trying to break up the show so she could get some stage time herself, was she? Well, they were two playing that game, and Derek wasn't going to let some little girl run away with what could easily be the price of a lifetime.

"You know what guys," he said and pushed his chair out. "You just go back to the hotel, I'm going to take out Dr. Spencer here for a drink to say properly thank you for saving the life of my beloved goddaughter." Who was glaring daggers and two-handed broadswords at him.

"You two do that," Penny said with that wicked grin of hers that always occurred when she felt she had accomplished something sneaky.

"Have fun," Jennifer said with a cheerful wave and an expression too innocent to be genuine.

"Spencer?" Derek asked the man in front of him, who nodded and pushed his chair back. Derek noticed the way he kept a firm grip on the edge of the table as he rose and made a mental note that the kid was bad at holding his liquor.

They both took a deep breath of fresh air when they came outside and Spencer looked everywhere but at Derek when he said, "I don't think it's a wise idea for me to drink more alcohol."

"Actually, the drink was only an excuse to get you out of there," Derek admitted and gave Spencer a crooked smile when he looked up at him with a surprised and slightly guarded look. "I was kind of thinking we could go for a stroll on the beach, but if I had said that in there Penny and your friend Jennifer would have started planning the wedding as soon as we were out the door."

He could practically see it for him. Spencer would look astonishing in his tuxedo, flushed with excitement, his hair combed back from his face to avoid the lock of hair falling into his eyes, which had made Derek's hands itch to reach out and brush it away all evening.

They would write their own wedding vows.

_'Spencer. When I first heard about you from my girl PG, I thought you sounded too good to be true. Then I met you and I realized you were everything she said and so much more.'_

-o-

Spencer had already picked out the china. Momo would be the flower girl, of course, and Henry could carry the rings.

_'Dear Derek,' _his vow would begin, _'you are my epitome of perfect. You are everything I ever dreamed of having and more than I thought I could ever deserve.'_

"Right," Spencer said when he realized they both had been very silent for quite a long time.

"So," Derek said and beamed his smile at Spencer who found his breath to stutter in his throat. "That beach stroll?"

"Yes, let's go."

They were both aware that they walked closer and closer to each other as they neared the beach.

Then Spencer decided he felt brave and took a hold of Derek's hand when they had walked in silence on the beach for a while.

"Do you think you'd want to go out with me some time when I've moved to Virginia?" Derek had to ask. "You could show me a bit around in the city maybe? I've never been there before."

"I'd like that," Spencer assured him and looked down on the sand. Actually he's love to show Derek around, but found it was a bit early to use _that_ word, even in a context as innocent as this one. "And I know a good real estate agent too if you need to find somewhere to live too."

"You do?" Derek asked, his heart pounding in his chest. He could hardly believe his luck. Meeting Mr. Could Very Likely Be Right so easy and naturally, and he was only seven years younger and Derek had thought he was getting too old but this- _he_ was more than he had ever thought he deserved. "Then I should probably get your phone number so I can call you."

"That's a good idea." Spencer felt like the luckiest man on the planet.


End file.
